Please Help! Our Owen Needs Life-Saving Surgery
My boyfriend Jordan's dog, Owen, is a 7-year-old Maltese. He has one of those tongues that's always sticking out of his mouth. Everyone’s always said that Owen has the biggest heart, and that they could see it in his bond with Jordan.
An x-ray will confirm it...Owen’s heart is abnormally large, and this, unfortunately, is horrible news. Talk about poetic injustice.
Owen is both a service dog and an emotional support pet, he's been across the country with Jordan, supporting him through his battle with and triumph over addiction.
Jordan, Owen and I run a nonprofit, called No Act of Kindness, which puts addicts through rehab for free. We made a routine vet stop on the way to work one day, for Owen’s annual checkup, and that's when we first heard any mention of heart disease. Just a few days later, Dr. Steve Cole at Access Animal Hospital confirmed it Owen was diagnosed with Stage C Congestive Heart Failure.
We were in shock... rarely does a 7 year old dog fall victim to a terminal illness like CHF. The worst news, however, was that Owen's condition was incurable , and that while the medication would help his heart, it would take a toll on his kidneys, and eventually he would pass away. the vet gave it to us straight. Owen had only 6 months left to live, and there was nothing else we could do about it.
So we did what we always do, and tried to make the impossible...possible. After rushing Owen to the e.r 4 times in one month when he was struggling to breathe, we decided to build a mini ICU inside our small apartment. We scraped together fifteen hundred dollars and purchased an oxygen compressor for emergencies. We limited Owen's walks to two minutes at a time to avoid any over-exertion and we tried our hardest to focus on the time we had left with him, fighting tooth and nail to defy the odds and the vets prognosis that he would be gone by winter.
Owen, and dozens of other small breed dogs meet an early fate at the hands of mitral valve degeneration/regurgitation, a condition in which one of the heart valves remains open, causing blood and fluid to flow backwards, into his lungs. While this condition can be treated in humans, there are no veterinarians in the United States who perform the surgery on our pets.
It wasn't until mid July, that we first heard of Dr. Masami Uechi and the miracle procedures he was performing in Yokohama, Japan. So we did our research, and it was true:Dr. Uechi and his team of 11 perform Mitral Valve Repair surgery on dogs just like Owen. He boasts a 97% success rate, and performs 10 of these surgeries a week, on dogs that weren't given more than 6 months to live by their state-side veterinarian. Dr. Uechi is our only hope, and if Japan is where we have to be, we will do anything and everything to get there.
Dr. Uechi deemed Owen the perfect candidate for the surgery, he can fix Owen’s condition entirely. This is what he deserves: the opportunity to live a full life beside the family who adores him so dearly.
The financial logistics of this endeavor are formidable at the very least. We would have to stay in Yokohama for three weeks while Owen recovers from the procedure and The process alone, of getting Owen into Japan is extremely tedious,
We were somehow able to save enough money to book cheap flights, pay for all of Owen's paperwork, and rent a bedroom near the hospital for 3 weeks: from October 5th to the 27th.
The surgery itself will cost anywhere from $19,154.74 to $19,815.08. This is the cost breakdown given to us by Uechi's team, with the currency conversion below.
This is a lot of money. It has not been easy to keep consistent income during the Coronavirus pandemic. But we put ourselves at your mercy. And in exchange for your assistance, we offer our services, or anything we could do to make it up to you, in return.
We are offering every second of our available time in exchange for help. I am a Google certified web designer, Internet marketing specialist, app developer, graphic designer, and video editor. I make logos and specialize in branding. Jordan and I Both print and design personalized t shorts, we’re both former tutors. Jordan specializes in content management...he’s a writer and editor, a musician, a dog whisperer etc. We are infinitely grateful and will make it up to you, even if all you want is a thank you card, it will be the BEST thank you card that you have ever received :)
And for anyone out there who has a pet struggling with CHF, don’t listen to any vet who tells you there is nothing you can do. For more information, visit ‘MightyHeartsProject.org’
All my love and gratitude,
Casey
